The Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek, California October 2003. This specimen was damaged in the 1990 extremely cold winter (mid-teens for several days at night), but has recovered and is one of the northern most specimens of its kind in California.

Imagine - pink flowers in October!

Deciduous look in Los Angeles mid winter with Avocado-like fruits all over tree (these filled with cotton like substance the local naturalized parrots love to eat and nest with)

after peel is removed, tightly packed cotton mass slowly starts to swell and fill with air, just before it 'explodes' and all the seeds are exposed

Growing beautifully in Walnut Creek, Ca in the Ruth Bancroft Garden.

old opened fruits on ground (most torn about by feral parrots) Los Angeles in spring

Less than one year old seedling is over 2 feet tall.

early flower buds, early fall, southern California

Seedpod.

An odd flowered one found at the Naples Botanical Garden flowering in November, 2010. Note the large stickers along the stem and the seedpods forming.

In flower in November, 2010 at the Naples Botanical Garden.

full of fruit in winter, Huntington Gardens, California

Ceiba speciosa trees in Robertson, South Africa

San Francisco Botanical Garden

San Francisco Botanical Garden

Los Angeles, California - Front Yard Tree

Los Angeles, California - Front Yard Tree

Los Angeles, California - Front Yard Tree

Los Angeles, California - Front Yard Tree

Los Angeles, California - Front Yard Tree

Los Angeles, California - Front Yard Tree

Los Angeles, California - Front Yard Tree

Los Angeles, California - Front Yard Tree

Los Angeles, California - Front Yard Tree

fruits in January, southern California

fruit after sqirrel and parrots got to it

the thorns on the bark of the kapok tree

many pods b4 it opens to reveal fluff

thorns on lower trunk--looks prehistoric

fruit exploded and cotton available for birds to use for nesting

trunk of really old tree in the Los Angeles arboretum

fruits in winter, Los Angeles arboretum

my kapok in mission tx has pink flowers

pink flowers on south texas kapok

In Columbia. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Spath, the owner of Spath Gardens, a fantastic landscape design and installation company for Southern California Gardens. Copyright of Jeremy Spath. Mr. Spath is well known for creating beautiful public gardens, among them include the Cardiff Library and various collections at the San Diego Botanical Gardens. He is also a frequent lecturer at many plant symposiums and plant societies. http://spathgardens.com/